This summer, World Heart Beat launched The Planet Harmony Project which explores themes of social, racial and climate justice through music.
The project provides free brass and tabla tuition to pupils at Griffin Primary School and Harris Academy in Battersea, Nine Elms as well as hosting international Columbian musicians and educators, Mr. Klaje with a two-week residency including workshops in making musical instruments out of recycled materials.
Tabla and Brass Tuition
Winston Rollins (Trombonist, Writer and Producer) has taught Trombone and Trumpet to twenty-two Year 4, 5 and 6 students at Griffin Primary School, and Alok Verma has taught twenty-six students from Year 9 and 10 at Harris Academy, both over a twelve-week period.
Mr. Klaje – visiting Columbian musicians and educators
Mr. Klaje is Julián García, Juan Manuel Gómez and Yeiner Belalcázar Paz, better known as Candy, a collective of musicians and educators hailing from Cali in Colombia.
As alumni of the music school in Cali, the collective initially began as a percussion group that used recycled materials to make music and over time, they started performing in Colombia and other countries of Latin America, sharing alternative lyrics that invite people to reflect on social and environmental issues.
By 2014, the group started engaging further with socially and environmentally engaged music projects, such as “The Rubbish Road”. A programme where they provided musical training and workshops to underserved and vulnerable groups, on how to make instruments using recycled materials and make music using them.
World Heart Beat invited Mr. Klaje for a residency to deliver workshops across 8 schools in Wandsworth, to provide a one or two-day snapshot into its work.
Recycling workshops
With each visit, they offered students warm up activities and fun games, which saw them acquire practical skills in listening, rhythm, percussion, vocals, and also social values like trust, empathy, respect and collaboration. After warm up activities, they made instruments out of recycled materials, which at times were shakers or drums!
After the making of the instruments, they came together around music, playing them, accompanying Colombian folk music and reflecting on the day, with a focus on empathy, consideration and the power of music to help imagine and make a different world!
Wandsworth Arts Fringe (WAF) Festival
Planet Harmony was showcased in Griffin Primary School’s ‘Forest in the City’ garden on Wednesday 22nd June as part of the Wandsworth Arts Fringe (WAF) Festival.
The event provided a snapshot of some of the music activities and workshops ranging from learning how to play brass and tabla instruments, an introduction to samba rhythms, making instruments out of recycled materials as well as writing songs.
Watch the video below:
With huge thanks to:
Sir Walter St. John’s Educational Charity, The Wandsworth Grant Fund, The Arts Council England Jubilee Fund and Enable who kindly supported The Planet Harmony Project.